Fighter jets for the Air Corps?

F35, the French euro fighter and the FA50

Or utter hanger queens that need a lot of attention to be brought back into usable capability (during which everyone opposed to having fighters will happily point out any and all cost overruns that they incur), the SA birds have plenty of question marks on them, if it’s Saab go sit down with them and the Swedish government, fairly sure they would find enough to build out a squadron given the timeframe we are talking about, ie come back in a decade.

And on that note:

https://theaviationgeekclub.com/after-czech-republic-mulled-order-for-24-f-35a-lightning-ii-fighters-swedens-ambassador-says-the-country-can-keep-gripen-aircraft-for-free/

Why? You do get that pretty much all we but is from NATO members or NATO standard equipment, hell we buy ammo and equipment from Israel for example, and why suggest an airplane from an even stronger US ally?

Is it not basically a mini F16

And without a miracle, we will most likely miss it…

I read about them Gripens on offer to the Czechs. They seem to want to go the expensive route and buy new American jets. We should jump in and grab these now before somebody else does. Added bonus of being immediately available so puts planes in the air now rather than waiting 2 to 5 years. Somebody needs to have a word in minister Coveneys ear. And I believe we can trust the Swedes not to sell us a pup and make sure they are fully maintained and in tip top shape before handover. Training package should be first class as the Swedes are not gobshites and would give our guys a good grounding and ongoing support as needed.

Too much debatin and not enough action. It wouldn't cost a fortune to build the necessary hangars etc and radar upgrade is already a racing certainty. We have good civil engineering contractors in Ireland who could get Baldonnel "match fit" for the arrival of the new "Irish Strike Force"! Anyway our pilots would be in Sweden for about 6 months (I'm guessing) being trained while the base is being enhanced as required.

Although , if there was a decent fast jet program , and a decent apprenticeship / engineer system, with a chance of progression and a way out with a good qualification, and it was pushed and publishised , ( so a decent career path ) I'd say you could START a decent program pretty soon -

We already have top level aero technician training in Ireland both at civilian and military level. You just need trainees. Saab have for other forces provided full training to bring instructor pilots up to speed, with plenty of access to their own simulators. Once you have a decent core of instructors and suitably fit trainee pilots (High Gs are hard on the physique) then away you go.

Our only real stumbling blocs are

1. Funding the aircraft
2. Funding the appropriate wages for techs and pilots
3. Finding the techs and pilots, and keeping them once you have trained them at great expense. We have to make a DF career attractive again.

Just wait til they hear thats jets have to have missiles..

Ah here, don’t be telling them that stuff or they might suggest fake ones for show. Though wasn’t it the Tornado that the RAF flew with a lump of concrete for a radar?

Courtesy visit to the Don today from the French Air Force academy flight school in a Squadron of PC-21s. No doubt a useful visit from the point of view of future cooperation and the approaching end of life of the PC-9s

- Irish Air Corps Instagram.

They look cool in the blue / red paint scheme. Especially the propellers

Reading Signal earlier, one of the commentaries felt the Jump from Primary radar and no Fast jets in LOA2 to Fast jets in LOA3 was unrealistic. Felt the phrasing of "Fighter jets" would only be used as a deterrent by some circles to move to LOA3. (It already grabbed the attention of some very poorly informed commentators)

Basically You need primary radar, ASAP, but without Air Policing aircraft to investigate any aircraft of interest, it was like buying a burglar alarm, but doing nothing when the alarm went off.